Johannes Brahms (1833-1897) Over a period of 43 years (1853–96) he published 190 solo lieder, 5 songs for one or two voices, 2 songs with obbligato viola, 20 duets and 60 vocal quartets for solo voices, all with piano accompaniment. Brahms has often been criticized for having chosen texts of mediocre quality to set. He set poems by leading writers such as Eichendorff, Goethe, Heine, Ludwig Hölty, Mörike, Rückert and Theodor Storm but also set lyrics by minor poets who were fashionable in his time, such as Daumer (54 settings, including the two sets of Liebeslieder waltzes), Carl Candidus, Halm, Carl Lemcke, Adolf Friedrich von Schack and Max von Schenkendorff. The tendency cannot be explained by poor education or lack of literary taste. Like most cultured people of his day, Brahms was an avid reader of poetry by both established masters and contemporaries. Rather, the criterion he applied when selecting texts was whether the poem left room for enhancement by a musical setting.

Although he was a close friend of Robert and Clara Schumann, Brahms’ musical influence comes from Schubert. Brahms was far more interested in beauty of melody, balance in form and clarity in rhythm and texture than he was in the detailed presentation of a text.

Brahms’ songs were not composed with the intention that a published set be performed as one large work. Rather each song is individual and can stand alone.

Two Song-cycles:

Op. 33 Romanzen (Magelone-Lieder) Baritone and paino (1861-1869). Text

comes from L. Tieck: Wundersame Liebesgeschichte der schönen Magelone und des Grafen Peter aus der Provence. A song cycle of 15 songs.

Op. 121 Vier ernste Gesänge [Four Serious Songs], Bass and piano (1896) 1 Ecclesiastes iii.19–22 “Denn es gehet dem Menschen” 

2 Ecclesiastes iv.1–3; “Ich wandte mich, und sahe an alle” 

3 Apocrypha: Ecclesiasticus xli.1–2; “O Tod, o Tod, wie bitter bist du”  4 1 Corinthians xiii.1–4, 12–13; “Wenn ich mit Menschen- und mit

Engelzungen redete”